View source for SS Athenic

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image=Athenic-100 bg.jpg
| Ship caption= Postcard of SS ''Athenic''
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country= United Kingdom; Norway
|Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} {{Shipboxflag|Norway}}
|Ship name= SS ''Athenic'' (1901–28)
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=*[[File:White Star flaga.svg|23px]] [[White Star Line]] (1901–28)
*Hvalfangerselskapet Pelagos A/S (1928–62)
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=*{{flagicon|UK|government}} [[Liverpool]] (1901–28)
*{{flagicon|Norway}} [[Tønsberg]] (1928–62)
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|Ship builder= [[Harland and Wolff]], [[Belfast]]
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|Ship yard number= 341
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|Ship launched= 17 August 1901
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|Ship completed=23 January 1902
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|Ship commissioned= 14 February 1902
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|Ship renamed= SS ''Pelagos'', 1928
|Ship reclassified=[[Whaling]] [[factory ship]], 1928
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|Ship captured=15 January 1941 by the {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Pinguin}}
|Ship fate=Scrapped Hamburg 1962
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class= {{sclass|Athenic|ocean liner}}
|Ship tonnage= {{GRT|12234}}
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|Ship length= {{convert|500|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|63|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion= 2 [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|quadruple expansion steam engines]] driving 2 [[Propeller|screws]]
|Ship speed= {{convert|14|kn|km/h|0|lk=in}}
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|Ship capacity=*688 passengers:
*66–121 First class
*81–117 Second class
*450 Third class
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|Ship crew= 158 to 200
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'''SS ''Athenic''''' was a British passenger liner built by [[Harland & Wolff]] shipyards for the [[White Star Line]] in 1901.

==History==
The 12,234-ton steamship ''Athenic'' was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in [[Belfast]] and [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 17 August 1901. ''Athenic'' was the first of three identical [[sister ship]]s which were built for the profitable freight and passenger service from [[London]] to [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]]. The other two were {{SS|Corinthic|1902}} and {{SS|Ionic|1903}}. They were the first orders of the White Star Line after its takeover by [[J. P. Morgan]]'s [[International Mercantile Marine Company|IMM Co.]]

On 12 February 1902, she sailed from London on her maiden voyage to Wellington. After calling at Plymouth on 15 February before heading south, she had onboard 164 passengers; 29 First Class, 25 Second Class and 140 Third Class, a majority of them English immigrants. Following a route similar to that of White Star's Jubilee Class service to Australia, ''Athenic'' and her sisters provided service to South Africa and Tasmania as well via the [[Canary Islands]], calling at [[Cape Town]] before crossing the Indian Ocean, after which she called at the Tasmanian capital of [[Hobart]] before making port at Wellington on 27 March.<ref>UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960.</ref>

[[File:Athenic at Queens Wharf, Wellington.jpg|200px|thumb|left|''Athenic'' moored at Queens Wharf, Wellington (1913)]]
Like her sister ships, ''Athenic'' had two eight-cylinder quadruple expansion steam-powered engines by Harland & Wolff, working the ship's two [[propeller]]s that delivered 604 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|nominal horsepower]] and giving a service speed of {{convert|14|kn|km/h|lk=in}}. Her passenger capacity was 121 [[First class travel|first class]], 117 second class and 450 third class. She was equipped with electric lighting and cooling chambers for transport of frozen meat, specifically lamb.
{{stack|[[File:'Divine_Serivce'_on_board_the_'Athenic',_1914_(15163841954).jpg|thumb|'Divine Service' on board the ''Athenic'', 1914]]}}
When war was declared between the United Kingdom and Germany in August 1914, ''Athenic'' was in Wellington, New Zealand, and was requisitioned as a [[troopship]] under the British Liner Requisition Scheme. On 23 September 1914 she was in [[Lyttelton, New Zealand|Lyttleton]] (Christchurch) in the South Island of New Zealand, where as one of the transports carrying what was known collectively as the [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WaiNewZ-b1.html "Main Body"], she took on board the following units of the [[New Zealand Expeditionary Force]]: Headquarters, Mounted Rifles Brigade, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regt. (2 squadrons) and the Canterbury Infantry Battalion (less 1 Company). The Officer Commanding Troops was Colonel A.H. Russell. In total ''Athenic'' carried 54 officers, 1,259 men and 339 horses. She proceeded to Wellington and berthed there till 16 October 1914, when it was judged safe to depart. She sailed across the globe, sailing per convoy by way of Hobart, Albany, Colombo, Aden and finally arriving in [[Alexandria]] to disembark the soldiers on 3 December 1914. SS ''Athenic'' was designated at that time as being (His Majesty's New Zealand Transport) HMNZT 11. She was the largest troopship ever sent from New Zealand transporting New Zealand forces to the [[Middle East]]. ''Athenic'' acted several other times as a transport throughout World War I, with a new number for each voyage she undertook.
[[File:A-00642 Hvalkokeri PELAGOS.jpg|thumb|left|''Pelagos'', 1931]]

Throughout the course of her career, ''Athenic'' carried 26,274 passengers to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.<ref>UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960.</ref>

In 1928, she came to a Norwegian company and was renamed '''SS ''Pelagos'''''. Torpedoed in 1944, she was refloated the following year and continued to serve until her demolition in 1962.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090210224815/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsAA.html Ship Description from ''The Ships List'']
*[http://www.ssmaritime.com/SS-Athenic.htm ''Athenic''-class ocean liners at ssMaritime.com]
*[https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections-online/search?sbj=Athenic+(Ship) ''Athenic'' records] at [[Auckland War Memorial Museum]]
*[http://www.flotilla-australia.com/hmnzt.htm#11 Details of ''Athenic''{{'}}s service as a New Zealand transport throughout WWI] From NZ Transport Ships at the Flotilla Australia website.

==External links==
*[https://www.reddit.com/r/OceanLinerArchitect/comments/oidejq/first_class_interiors_on_ss_athenic_1902/ Several interior images of ''Athenic'']

{{Athenic-class ocean liners}}
{{White Star Line ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athenic}}
[[Category:1901 ships]]
[[Category:Passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built in Belfast]]
[[Category:Ships of the White Star Line]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built by Harland and Wolff]]
[[Category:Captured ships]]